Signs

These elements may appear as ‘signs’ or letters, but in fact bear no relation to any alphabet. The artist’s intention is that the wooden elements may be installed in any order or orientation within the grid.

Dilworth is a British sculptor who studied at the Wigan School of Art and at the Slade School in London. After graduating in 1956, he spent a year in Paris, where he discovered an affinity with European Modernism. The art of Chinese calligraphy was also a formative influence. Over the next decade, Dilworth’s work progressively moved from figuration towards a more pure form of abstraction.

Since the early 1980s, the artist has lived mostly in Europe, where his work is recognised more than it is in Britain. The absence of work by Dilworth in the collection of Leeds Museums & Galleries has been a significant omission, which the acquisition of Signs now helps to rectify.